Yankees’ Attendance and Ratings Rebound, but the Mets’ Are Mixed

The Yankees, built on winning and the star system, are benefiting from the return of Derek Jeter and the addition of Masahiro Tanaka and Jacoby Ellsbury.

The number of tickets sold at Yankee Stadium through 13 home dates is up nearly 10 percent from the same point a year ago, according to data compiled on Baseball-Reference.com. The average figure is 41,418.

The YES Network is having an even stronger rebound from a desultory 2013, which suggests that fans have gone back to their televisions to watch the retooled Yankees at an even faster rate than they have snapped up tickets. So far, each game on YES has attracted an average of 341,000 viewers, which is up 38 percent over the same period last year.

The Mets have a more mixed picture. Their ticket sales are up, but, in somewhat contradictory fashion, their TV ratings are down, even though the team had gotten off to a surprising 15-11 start. Years of losing have no doubt created apathy within the team’s fan base that will not be instantly overcome.

For the Yankees, their fans’ restored affection in the first month of the 2014 season comes after an injury-marred 2013 campaign that concluded with the team’s missing out on the postseason for the second time in 19 years. Injuries limited Jeter to 17 games, Mark Teixeira to 15, Alex Rodriguez to 44 and Curtis Granderson to 61.

The Yankees who were healthy in 2013 — a group that included such modest players as Lyle Overbay, Zoilo Almonte, Luis Cruz, Ben Francisco and Brennan Boesch — overachieved, putting together a respectable 85-77 record, but still, the star power was missing. For the full season, the number of tickets sold fell 7.4 percent and YES’s viewership tumbled 31 percent.

But now the Yankees have Tanaka, who is 3-0 in the major leagues after a remarkable 24-0 record in Japan last season. The longer that unbeaten streak goes, the more buzz he will create for the team and the more he will presumably help ratings and attendance on the days he pitches.

And if Jeter stays healthy and plays reasonably well, his final season before retirement is likely to be a magnet for fans, particularly as he moves closer to the end.

As for the Mets, the number of tickets sold through 16 dates is up 3.4 percent to 27,058 a game, a nice lift after a steady decline in attendance since the team moved into Citi Field in 2009. Still, the number of viewers on SNY has fallen 4 percent to 180,000 a game.

Because the disparity between tickets sold and the number of people at the ballpark is sometimes glaring, TV ratings might be a more accurate measurement of fan interest. As such, the drop in ratings on SNY suggests how much work the Mets still have to do to get all of their fans on board again. The 15-11 start helped, but they need to keep playing solid baseball.

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“Let’s say the Mets are surprising people,” said Vince Gennaro, a consultant to several major league teams. “Expectations were low coming into the season. Presuming they stay competitive, even at the .500 level, I’d expect a pickup in ticket sales in June, July and August. When people decide that this is really worth following, they fit it into their busy lives.”

For now, the Mets still seem to be scrambling to come up with ways to get the attention of their fans. This week, they released an unusual open letter to fans that asserted that “true New Yorkers are Mets fans,” although the immense number of Yankees fans would obviously disagree.

The letter, signed by Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling, Cleon Jones, Ed Charles, Jerry Koosman and Dwight Gooden, all of whom won a World Series with the Mets, seems to imply that more fans should be attending games at Citi Field because the team is playing better.

“As players, we can tell you that what happens in the clubhouse and what happens in the stands — players and fans believing in each other — make a tremendous difference with what happens on the field,” the letter stated.

“So today, we’re issuing a call to all Mets fans,” it added. “Show your New York Mets pride — stand up and say you’re a true New Yorker.”

Those who add their name to the online letter, which is posted on the Mets’ website, can enter personal information to become eligible to win tickets to the May 14 Yankees-Mets game at Citi Field and the chance to present the letter and its signatures to David Wright before the game.

The letter has encountered more mockery than admiration. For instance, the Mets Police blog wrote of the letter: “They picked the Subway Series as the day the contest winner will present the Mets with the signatures. So we’re gonna show those Yankees we have fans, too!”

Even in the ZIP code nearest Citi Field, Yankees fans outnumbered Mets fans by more than 2 to 1. The letter is unlikely to change that ratio. Making the postseason might, but the Mets have not been there since 2006.

A version of this article appears in print on May 2, 2014, on Page B14 of the New York edition with the headline: Yankees’ Attendance and Ratings Rebound, but the Mets’ Are Mixed. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe